{"id":"water-services-code-of-practice-family-violence-2020","name":"Water Services Code of Practice (Family Violence) 2020","slug":"water-services-code-of-practice-family-violence-2020","collection":"regulation","jurisdiction":"wa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":183853,"registerId":"wa-water-services-code-of-practice-family-violence-2020-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-05","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Water Services Code of Practice (Family Violence) 2020","content":"![Crest]()Western Australia\n\nWater Services Act 2012\n\nWater Services Code of Practice (Family Violence) 2020\n\nWestern Australia\n\nWater Services Code of Practice (Family Violence) 2020\n\nContents\n\nPart 1 — Preliminary\n\n1. Citation 1\n\n2. Commencement 1\n\n3. Terms used 1\n\n4. Application of code 2\n\nPart 2 — Family violence policies\n\n5. Family violence policy 3\n\n6. Family violence policy must be made available 4\n\n7. Review of family violence policy 4\n\nPart 3 — General\n\n8. Record keeping 5\n\n9. Customers must be informed about complaints procedure 5\n\n10. Code must be made available 5\n\nNotes\n\nCompilation table 6\n\nEditorial changes table 6\n\nDefined terms\n\n  \n\nWater Services Act 2012\n\nWater Services Code of Practice (Family Violence) 2020\n\n## Part 1 — Preliminary\n\n##### 1. Citation\n\n\t\tThis code is the *Water Services Code of Practice (Family Violence) 2020*.\n\n##### 2. Commencement\n\nThis code comes into operation as follows —\n\n(a) Part 1 — on the day on which this code is published in the *Gazette*;\n\n(b) the rest of the code — on the day after that day.\n\n##### 3. Terms used\n\n(1) In this code —\n\nbill means a bill for a water service charge;\n\nfamily violence has the meaning given in the *Restraining Orders Act 1997* section 5A;\n\nfamily violence policy has the meaning given in clause 5(1);\n\nfinancial hardship means being in an ongoing state of financial disadvantage in which the ability of a residential customer to meet the basic living needs of the customer or a dependant of the customer would be adversely affected if the customer were to pay an unpaid bill;\n\nfinancial hardship policy, of a licensee, means the licensee’s policy under the *Water Services Code of Conduct (Customer Service Standards) 2024* clause 32;\n\npayment difficulties means being in a state of financial disadvantage that is not likely to be ongoing and in which the customer is unable to pay an unpaid bill;\n\nresidential customer means a customer who uses the place in respect of which a water service is provided solely or primarily as the customer’s dwelling.\n\nNote for this subclause:\n\nOther words and expressions used in this code have the same meanings as they have in the *Water Services Act 2012*. See the *Water Services Act 2012* section 26(5) and the *Interpretation Act 1984* section 44.\n\n(2) A reference in this code to a customer affected by family violence is a reference to a residential customer who is directly or indirectly affected by family violence.\n\n##### 4. Application of code\n\nThis code applies to a licensee that provides a water service to a residential customer.\n\n## Part 2 — Family violence policies\n\n##### 5. Family violence policy\n\n(1) A licensee must have a policy (a family violence policy) that sets out the following matters —\n\n(a) the training to be provided to employees and other persons interacting with customers on behalf of the licensee to enable them to appropriately respond to customers affected by family violence;\n\n(b) the information to be provided to customers affected by family violence about external services through which they can receive support, and when that information is to be provided;\n\n(c) a process by which the account of a customer affected by family violence can be identified by employees without the need for a customer to repeat details of the issues;\n\n(d) how information obtained from, or relating to, customers affected by family violence is to be protected;\n\n(e) in what circumstances a customer affected by family violence will, as a result, be taken to be experiencing —\n\n(i) payment difficulties for the purposes of the *Water Services Code of Conduct (Customer Service Standards) 2024*; or\n\n(ii) financial hardship for the purposes of the licensee’s financial hardship policy;\n\n(f) how the licensee is to deal with debt management and recovery in relation to the accounts of customers affected by family violence;\n\n(g) that the licensee must not request written evidence of family violence from a customer unless the evidence is reasonably necessary to enable the licensee to assess appropriate measures that it may take in relation to debt management and recovery.\n\n(2) A licensee must have a family violence policy before the end of the 6-month period starting on —\n\n(a) unless paragraph (b) applies — the day on which this clause comes into operation; or\n\n(b) if the day of the grant of the licensee’s licence is after the day on which this clause comes into operation — the day of the grant of the licensee’s licence.\n\n##### 6. Family violence policy must be made available\n\nA licensee must —\n\n(a) publish its family violence policy on its website; and\n\n(b) provide a hard copy of the policy to a customer on request and at no charge.\n\n##### 7. Review of family violence policy\n\nA licensee must review its family violence policy —\n\n(a) at least once in every 5-year period; and\n\n(b) in addition to any review under paragraph (a) — if directed to do so by the Minister.\n\n## Part 3 — General\n\n##### 8. Record keeping\n\n(1) A licensee must maintain adequate records in relation to compliance with this code or any policy made under the code —\n\n(a) if the licensee is a government organisation as defined in the *State Records Act 2000* section 3(1) — in accordance with its obligations under that Act; or\n\n(b) otherwise — in accordance with subclause (2).\n\n(2) For the purposes of subclause (1)(b), the licensee must retain each record —\n\n(a) if the record relates to a customer — for at least 7 years after the last communication between the licensee and the customer or water services ombudsman in relation to the matter the subject of the record; or\n\n(b) otherwise — for at least 7 years after the record is made.\n\n##### 9. Customers must be informed about complaints procedure\n\nWhen a customer affected by family violence first contacts a licensee about a particular matter relating to the family violence, the licensee must inform the customer of the existence and operation of the licensee’s complaints procedure under the *Water Services Code of Conduct (Customer Service Standards) 2024* clause 49.\n\n##### 10. Code must be made available\n\nA licensee must ensure that its website contains a link that provides access to the current version of this code as it appears on the website that is maintained by or on behalf of the Western Australian Government and that provides public access to electronic versions of Western Australian legislation.\n\nNotes\n\nThis is a compilation of the *Water Services Code of Practice (Family Violence) 2020*. For provisions that have come into operation, or versions that include editorial changes made under the *Legislation Act 2021* Part 3, see the compilation table. For provisions affected by editorial changes see the editorial changes table.\n\nCompilation table\n\n| **Citation** | **Published** | **Commencement** |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| *Water Services Code of Practice (Family Violence) 2020* | SL 2020/241 8 Dec 2020 | Pt. 1: 8 Dec 2020 (see cl. 2(a));   Code other than Pt. 1: 9 Dec 2020 (see cl. 2(b)) |\n| ***Water Services Code of Practice (Family Violence) 2020* with editorial changes as at 16 Jan 2025** | | |\n\n\nEditorial changes table\n\nThe *Legislation Act 2021* Part 3 authorises the Parliamentary Counsel to make editorial changes to laws. This power cannot be used to change the effect of a law. If an editorial change is made to a law, the law has effect as if the change had been made by another law that amended the law and commenced on the day on which the change is made.\n\nTo see the editorial changes included in a version of a law, see the compare document for that version on the WA legislation website.\n\n| **Provision/s affected** | **Authorising provision of *Legislation Act 2021* Part 3** | **Effective date**   **of change** |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| cl. 3, 5(1)(e)(i) and 9 | s. 25(4) | 16 Jan 2025 |\n| cl. 8(1)(a) | s. 39 |  |\n\n\nDefined terms\n\n*[This is a list of terms defined and the provisions where they are defined. The list is not part of the law.]*\n\n**Defined term Provision(s)**\n\nbill 3(1)\n\nfamily violence 3(1)\n\nfamily violence policy 3(1), 5(1)\n\nfinancial hardship 3(1)\n\nfinancial hardship policy 3(1)\n\npayment difficulties 3(1)\n\nresidential customer 3(1)\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"summary":{"complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Impossible to assess whether the scope changed from original intent — the legislative text is unavailable. The document provided contains only a website error page, not the legislation itself."},"complexity_factors":["No actual legislative text was provided — only a broken webpage error message","Cannot assess true complexity without access to the document's content","Score of 1 reflects the absence of analysable material, not the inherent simplicity of the law itself"],"plain_english_summary":"The Water Services Code of Practice (Family Violence) 2020 is a Western Australian regulatory code that sets expected obligations for water service providers toward customers affected by family or domestic violence. \n\nIt matters because it aims to ensure sensitive handling, account protections, privacy safeguards and flexible payment or support options for vulnerable customers."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"No change to the code's statutory scope is indicated in this instrument. It expressly applies to licensees that provide water services to residential customers (cl.4) and supplements customer-service obligations by mandating family-violence policies, publication, record-keeping, notifications and periodic review (Parts 2–3)."},"complexity_factors":["Cross-references to other instruments increase operational complexity: definitions and treatment of payment difficulties/financial hardship rely on the Water Services Code of Conduct (Customer Service Standards) 2024 and family violence is defined by the Restraining Orders Act 1997 (cl.3; cl.5(1)(e); cl.9).","Operational discretion: employees must identify customers affected by family violence and decide when written evidence is \"reasonably necessary\", creating judgement calls and potential inconsistency (cl.5(1)(c), 5(1)(g)).","Record-keeping and retention obligations impose an administrative burden: customer-related records must be kept for at least 7 years after last communication (cl.8(2)(a)).","Mandatory training, policy publication and free hard copies create ongoing resource costs (cl.5(1)(a); cl.6).","Governance obligations: policies must be reviewed at least every 5 years and additionally if directed by the Minister, requiring formal review processes (cl.7).","Narrow, easily-identifiable scope limits complexity of application — applies only to licensees providing water services to residential customers (cl.4).","No enforcement or penalty mechanisms are detailed in the code itself, leaving enforcement and remedies to the Water Services Act framework or other instruments (absence noted across the code)."],"plain_english_summary":"The code requires water‑service licensees who supply residential customers to adopt and publish a family‑violence policy covering staff training, identification and protection of affected customers, support referrals, and how accounts are treated for payment difficulties, financial hardship and debt recovery. It also requires record‑keeping, advising affected customers about complaints, periodic policy reviews and a public web link. Licensees bear the compliance costs (training, records, policy upkeep); staff make operational judgments (including when written evidence is “reasonably necessary”); customers receive designated protections and referrals."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose: establishing minimum standards for water service providers to respond to family violence. The scope has not expanded beyond requiring family violence policies, training, privacy protections, and debt management protocols. The 2025 editorial changes (updating references to the Water Services Code of Conduct) represent technical maintenance rather than scope expansion."},"complexity_factors":["Short document (10 substantive clauses across 3 Parts)","Only 7 defined terms in the interpretation section (clause 3)","Limited cross-referencing: primarily references to the Restraining Orders Act 1997, Water Services Code of Conduct (Customer Service Standards) 2024, and Water Services Act 2012","Straightforward conditional logic: simple timeframes (6 months, 5 years, 7 years) and clear trigger events","No nested exceptions or complex deeming provisions","Clear structure with Part 1 (preliminary), Part 2 (substantive obligations), Part 3 (general administrative requirements)","Single regulatory target (licensees providing water services to residential customers)"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this legislation does:**\n\nThis is a Western Australian code of practice that requires water service providers (called \"licensees\") to have specific policies and procedures to help customers experiencing family violence. It sits under the *Water Services Act 2012*.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n\n- **Water service providers** (licensees) supplying water to homes in Western Australia\n- **Residential customers** who are experiencing family violence (defined by the *Restraining Orders Act 1997*)\n\n**Key requirements:**\n\n- **Family violence policy**: Licensees must create and maintain a written policy covering:\n  - Staff training on how to recognise and respond to family violence\n  - Information about external support services for affected customers\n  - Ways to flag customer accounts so victims don't have to repeat traumatic details every time they call\n  - Protection of confidential information about family violence\n  - When family violence automatically qualifies a customer for financial hardship assistance or payment difficulty arrangements\n  - Special rules for debt collection that don't put victims at further risk\n  - A ban on demanding written proof of family violence unless absolutely necessary for assessing debt options\n\n- **Timing**: New licensees must have a policy within 6 months of getting their licence; existing licensees had 6 months from when this code started.\n\n- **Transparency**: Policies must be published online and available in hard copy free on request.\n\n- **Reviews**: Policies must be reviewed at least every 5 years, or sooner if the Minister directs.\n\n- **Record keeping**: Records must be kept for 7 years (following specific rules for government organisations).\n\n- **Complaints**: When a family violence victim first contacts the provider about their situation, the provider must tell them how to make complaints.\n\n**Why it matters:**\n\nFamily violence often involves financial abuse, where perpetrators control household finances or rack up debts in the victim's name. This code prevents water companies from making things worse—for example, by repeatedly demanding payment from someone whose abuser controls the money, or by cutting off water to a family home. It ensures victims get treated with dignity, can access payment help without jumping through hoops, and don't have to retell their story to every new call centre operator."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/water-services-code-of-practice-family-violence-2020","history":"/api/acts/water-services-code-of-practice-family-violence-2020/history","analysis":"/api/acts/water-services-code-of-practice-family-violence-2020/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/water-services-code-of-practice-family-violence-2020/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/water-services-code-of-practice-family-violence-2020/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/water-services-code-of-practice-family-violence-2020/documents"}}